Flap’s Links and Comments for August 25th through August 26th

These are my links for August 25th through August 26th:

• President 2012: My Rick Perry Problem — and Ours – Let’s cut through the clutter: A lot of people on the East and West coasts are bigots and snobs about “flyover types.” They equate funny accents with stupidity, and they automatically assume someone who went to Texas A&M must be dumber than someone who went to Yale. Overt displays of religion trigger their fight-or-flight instincts, causing them to lash out irrationally.

  My favorite example? When John McCain picked Palin as his running mate, University of Chicago professor Wendy Doniger wrote that Palin’s “greatest hypocrisy is in her pretense that she is a woman.”

  When I read such idiocy, it’s impossible for me not to love Bush, Perry, Palin, et al. for their enemies.

  But here’s my problem: I find the prospect of another four or eight years of defending these cultural distinctions to be intensely wearying.

  My weariness is hardly a major consideration for anybody, but I think it reflects a larger problem. Conservatism is starting to have an identity-politics problem all its own. I think conservatism needs to spend less time defending candidates for who they are, and more time supporting candidates for what they intend to do.

  Bush’s inability to articulate arguments had nothing to do with his Texan-ness or his Christianity, but a lot of folks on the right defended him as if that were the case. “He speaks American, don’t you get it?”

  To which I’d reply: “No, he speaks badly.”

  Perry’s not a bad speaker, and I’m trying to keep an open mind. I suspect I agree with him more than I did with Bush, whose compassionate conservatism I loathed.

  Nor do I mind folksiness per se. Mississippi governor Haley Barbour can talk seriously and colorfully at the same time. But this time around, folksiness isn’t a substitute for seriousness, and I have very little patience for those who pretend otherwise.

  =======

  Well said.

• @Flap Twitter Updates for 2011-08-26 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2011-08-26 #tcot #catcot
• President 2012: The Problem With RomneyCare | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – President 2012: The Problem With RomneyCare #tcot #catcot
• President 2012: Conservative Bloggers Feud Over Perry and Palin – The presidential politics angle to the spat started to become apparent when Erickson wrote an additional blog post, in which he accused conservative blogger Dan Riehl of leaking the email to Politico. As evidence, he noted that Riehl had taken issue with RedState over its disparagement of conservative commentator Michelle Malkin’s condemnation of Perry’s 2007 push, as Texas governor, to mandate the vaccination of young girls with Gardasil — which was developed to prevent HPV, the most common sexually transmitted disease in the U.S.

  “I get he’s upset and/or jealous of RedState and thinks, I suppose, that we should be in the tank for Palin or should not have let Perry announce at the RedState Gathering or whatever the reason du jour is,” Erickson wrote of Riehl in an update to his post.

  Less than 20 minutes after the original Politico story was published, Erickson also posted an item in which he pointed to recent polling to suggest that Palin’s potential entry into the GOP field “would not shake up the race terribly at this point.”

  “All of the above suggests, if Palin got in, it would not be hers for the taking as many of her supporters might think,” Erickson wrote. “Instead, she’d struggle for third place and not be guaranteed, even in Iowa, of a strong finish.”

  Eighteen minutes after Erickson’s post went up, Riehl published his own blog item, which he titled “Perry Versus Palin,” and observed “how various voices and forces seem to be aligning themselves as relates to their support for Rick Perry or Sarah Palin.”

  “For what it's worth, I'm getting a sense that, within the conservative movement, Perry may come to more represent the old line conservative movement, much of which is seriously compromised as a result of having been established in Washington for so long,” Riehl wrote. “At the same time, I'm getting a sense that if the movement is to truly be re-energized and move forward from something it's been for decades — something already bound up in Washington — it may take a Sarah Palin to move forward along that path. If that does become the case, the two paths do lead to a different place.”

  ========

  Read it all.

  First thing is Sarah Palin has to enter the arean. Otherwise, this is all just noise.

• For When You Have Too Much to Say – No chance for this tennis coach RT @FlashReport: RT @udrawthelines: New Candidate for Ventura congressional seat
• California Bureau of State Audits Releases Report: Investigations of Improper Activities by State Agencies and Employees – July 2010 Through March 2011 » Flap’s California Blog – California Bureau of State Audits Releases Report: Investigations of Improper Activities by State Agencies and E…
• RealClearPolitics – Rick Perry Assembles Iowa Team – RT @RealClearScott: Rick Perry assembles Iowa team, nabs longtime GOP operative Bob Haus & WH vet Ruth Haus:
• President 2012 GOP Florida Poll Watch: Romney 51% Vs. Obama 43% Or Perry 46% Vs. Obama 45% | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – President 2012 GOP Florida Poll Watch: Romney 51% Vs. Obama 43% Or Perry 46% Vs. Obama 45% #tcot #catcot
• California Legislators Push New Internet Sales Tax Bill to Thwart Amazon.com Referendum | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – California Legislators Push New Internet Sales Tax Bill to Thwart Amazon.com Referendum #tcot #catcot
• President 2012 GOP Iowa Poll Watch: Perry 24% Bachmann 22% Romney 19% | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – President 2012 GOP Iowa Poll Watch: Perry 24% Bachmann 22% Romney 19% #tcot #catcot
• Flap’s Dentistry Blog: 91 Year Old U.K. Dentist/Athlete Seeks Olympic Bid – 91 Year Old U.K. Dentist/Athlete Seeks Olympic Bid
• American Obesity Rates Remain Higher Than 20% in ALL States | Smiles For A Lifetime – Temporary (Locum Tenens) Dentistry – American Obesity Rates Remain Higher Than 20% in ALL States
• President 2012: GOP Primary Election Calendar Still NOT Set | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – President 2012: GOP Primary Election Calendar Still NOT Set #tcot #catcot
• Flap’s California Morning Collection: August 25, 2011 » Flap’s California Blog – Flap’s California Morning Collection: August 25, 2011
• Flap’s Links and Comments for August 25th on 08:58 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Flap’s Links and Comments for August 25th on 08:58 #tcot #catcot